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Date:         Tue, 7 Jun 2011 12:32:48 -0700
Reply-To:     Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject:      Re: tach in an 85
Comments: To: Jake de Villiers <crescentbeachguitar@GMAIL.COM>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="Windows-1252";
              reply-type=original

Manual or automatic ?

In 'normal cars' you know when it's time to shift since at about 85 % total rpm power starts to drop off .. you just 'know' it's time..it just 'feels' that way.

waterboxers however ..have very unusually flat torque curves ... power feels very much the same from about high 2000's to low 4000's .. and .........the sound sure is the same from the driver's seat , and perhaps more so for 50 something year old ears. so use the marks on the speedo for sure . and actually .. we do have to 'teach' ourselves what rpm is ok in which gears at what speeds.... mainly for knowing when it's ok to downshift while loosing speed going into a big hill.

like in with an automatic .. you 'learn' that it can do 50 mph in 2nd just fine .. so while you're watching speed deteriorate on that long grade you just flew into .. you watch the speedo for 'when' you know it's ok to downshift.. and you previously had noted it can go up to say 55 in 2nd .. so then you know you can downshift on a hill ( tach or no tach ) at 55 or 50...

so you just learn what it can do in each gear. they're someone idiot proof rpm too .... I suppose you can overev one .....I've had a 1.9 wbxr to what I'm sure had to be 6,000 rpm or more .. that was accidentally going to 72 mph in 4th with a 5 speed and a tires 1.9 wbxr engine .. it didn't seem to mind at all.

I like to go by this too ... 'for faster speed, shift up, for more power, shift down.' within reason.

see how the speedo marks work out. Since Ellen is aircraft experienced .... aircraft have all kinds of designated speeds for air speed.. there's lift off speed call V something .... there's max rate of climb air speed, there's Vne or whatever they call it, max velocity to never exceed etc. you kinda have that on your Vanagon speedometer , those marks.

----- Original Message ----- From: "Jake de Villiers" <crescentbeachguitar@GMAIL.COM> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> Sent: Monday, June 06, 2011 7:12 PM Subject: Re: tach in an 85

There should be little dots around the edge of your speedometer. One dot for the redline in first gear, two dots for second and three for third. Something like 18, 38 and 53 MPH IIRC...

On Mon, Jun 6, 2011 at 5:55 PM, Ellen in Oregon <elleninoregon@hotmail.com>wrote:

> I'm finding this conversation very interesting as I don't have a tach in > Lola and shift by sound. Is there a range in MPH one should shift at, say > on level road? > > Ellen, Lola & Coee > > ‘Be Content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you > realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.’ ~Lao > Tzu > > > > > Date: Mon, 6 Jun 2011 19:02:38 -0400 > > From: dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET > > Subject: Re: tach in an 85 > > To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM > > > > At 04:37 PM 6/6/2011, Daniel Rotblatt wrote: > > >Thanks for the correlation between RPM and speed in 2nd. 50 MPH = > > >~4200 RPM. I could probably chart that and figure out what's going > > >on. It does make me a little more comfortable with the hill thing. > > >

-- Jake

1984 Vanagon GL 1.9 WBX - 'The Grey Van' 1986 Westy Weekender/2.5 SOHC Subie - 'Dixie'

Crescent Beach, BC

www.thebassspa.com www.crescentbeachguitar.com http://subyjake.googlepages.com/mydixiedarlin%27


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